Dear Diary,
It's me, Charlie. So I have a bit of a problem. Change that, a huge problem. A problem that will not only result in me losing all my clients, but also me being fired. How can I have graduated from Harvard Law School and pass the Bar Exam on the first try, yet be so incredibly stupid?
Life was going great until this *incident. I am sure you remember that I work as an attorney for Wolf and Company Law Firm, only the most successful law firm in all of Charleston. I mean, I didn't expect to work for anything less. After all, I am a Harvard Law graduate. Work was good. In fact, work was going so well that I got promoted to lead prosecutor in a huge case the firm had. I was almost confident that I would be able win this case for the firm. The only thing that would get in my way were my two assistant attorneys, Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum.
I do not know how I ended up with those two. I assumed that my assistants would be of equal ability and caliber to me. They definitely were not. To start of with, both of my assistant attorneys went to state schools. How did they land a job at Wolf & Co. Law Firm? I have no idea. Second, they always played exactly by the rules. Successful lawyers like myself don't really play exactly by the rules. Who does?
Back to this big case. I needed my assistants to find evidence that would go against the defense. I needed them to obtain prenuptial documents so I could prove that the defendant had in fact signed the document. I really didn't want to put this job in the hands of my assistant, but they were all I had... until Luke Wolf paid the office a visit.
Luke was Nate Wolf's (yes, like the owner of Wolf & Co. Law Firm) son. Luke was also an attorney, but he didn't really practice much. Luke was much more interested in enjoying Charleston's night life than having a regular job. I mean I really don't blame him. Luke walked by my office and asked me what I was working on. I proceeded to tell him about this big case and how I didn't really trust my assistants to obtain the correct documents. I guess Luke was intrigued by the status of this big case and offered to help me. I decided to accept Luke's help. He also was an Ivy League graduate, so I knew he could handle the work...or so I thought.
As the trial grew closer, my assistant attorneys and I worked on questions to ask the defendant. To be completely honest, I wasn't even worried about the cross-examination, so I let Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum come up with whatever questions they wanted. Later that day, Luke finally arrived at my office to show me the prenuptial documents. He hadn't been by my office in weeks and was not very good at answering his phone. That was the first red flag that I decided to ignore. Rookie mistake.
When Luke showed me the documents, I couldn't find the defendant's signature. Weird, right? Surely Luke got the right documents. When I asked Luke to show me exactly where the signature was located, he looked at me like I was the dumbest person he had ever meet. He said to me, "Charlie, you really don't see it? It's right in front of your face." I still did not see anything. This was the second red flag that I decided to ignore. At last resort, I asked Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum to review the documents to see if they could find the signature. They couldn't. At first, I was relieved that they too couldn't find the signature. However, the more I thought about, the more it made sense that they wouldn't be able to find the signature. I mean they didn't have nearly the advanced training or education that Luke and I had. I did not want Luke to believe that I was at the same level as Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum, so I decided to trust Luke and believe that the signature was truly there. This was my final and perhaps most fatal red flag that I choose to ignore.
The morning of the trial, my assistant attorneys begged me to reconsider using those documents. I firmly instructed them to stay in their lane and reminded them that I had been chosen to be the lead prosecutor for a reason. The time finally came to present the judge with the case-winning documents. When I handed the judge the documents that would prove the defendant had indeed signed the prenup, he looked at me like I was crazy and instructed me to hand him the correct documents. It was that moment when I realized my assistant attorneys were right. There was no signature. My case was falling apart right before my very eyes.
As you can probably guess, I lost the case. Rightly so, my client was not very happy with me. I just assumed that he would not use the law firm again, but no. He decided to take it one step further and sue the firm. My boss was thrilled when he heard about that. My boss then proceeded to put me on probation. One more mistake and I would not have a job. Honestly, being put on probation didn't even hurt because no one wanted me to represent them anyways.
How did I get here? Why was I being punished when really this was Luke's fault? He was the one who gave me the wrong documents. As much as I hate to admit this, Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum were right all along. Now I am humiliated and my career is a joke. I am truly living my best life... not.
So, diary, how do I fix this? Should I just move and work at a less prestigious law firm, assuming that I am not disbarred? Or should I stay at Wolf & Co. Law Firm, not have any clients, and make no money so that I can still say I am a partner at the most successful law firm in Charleston?
Sincerely,
a humiliated Charlie
Author's Note
I based my story loosely upon Christian Hans Andersen's The Emperor's New Suit. In the original story, a cocky, fashion-obsessed emperor thinks that he is above everyone else, especially those that worked in his imperial palace. One day, a couple of swindlers offer to make him a special suit out of the most wonderful fabric. Only those who are "fit" will be able to see this special suit. As the story goes along, the emperors puts on his "suit" and wears it in his palace. None of the ministers and courtiers who work in his palace are able to see it and only see him without clothes. They try and warn the emperor but he doesn't believe them. He assumes that they cannot see it because they are not "fit" and "worthy" of seeing this suit. When the emperor decided to wear his special suit to the town parade, he realizes that his ministers and courtiers were right. He is actually naked and in fact is not wearing a special suit. The emperors runs off and is humiliated.
In my story, I decided to base Charlie after the emperor. Like the emperor, Charlie is selfish and thinks that he is better than everyone else in his office. The assistant attorneys represent the the ministers and courtiers. Charlie thinks he is better than his assistant attorneys because he went to an Ivy League law school and they did not. Last but not least, Luke is based upon the swindler. Luke tricks Charlie into accepting false documents, just so he can be a part of this huge case.
Bibliography
The Emperor's New Suit. Story source: Fairy Tales and Stores by Hans Christian Andersen (1892).
Image of a library at Harvard University. Source: Flickr.